Sidewalk Labs, the urban innovation unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc., is considering constructing the high-rise buildings in its high-tech Quayside community entirely out of tall-timber technology.
If the proposal is approved, Quayside will be the largest development built primarily with tall timber, according to Karim Khalifa, director of building innovations at Sidewalk Labs. The community is set to be built on a 12-acre section of Toronto’s Eastern Waterfront, and will include about 3,000 residential units once complete.
“It’s such an audacious concept to build this many buildings with 3 million square feet of timber all at once” that the project would need developer support to make it happen, [building innovations director Karim Khalifa] said in an interview with Bloomberg at a project update. Sidewalk Labs has talked to developers including Mattamy Homes Ltd. about collaborating on tall timber, which allows for less carbon intensity than traditional building materials, is more sustainable, faster to erect and cheaper to fund, Khalifa said.
Obstacles to this proposal include Toronto’s building code, which only allows for six stories of tall-timber construction. Sidewalk Labs plans for tall-timber towers up to 50 stories tall.
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